Tug of Fate | When Stars Align Book one

First Call

Ananya

Gurgaon, September 2017

I'm running late. As I get into the conference room where my team is already waiting. We have telecon with the worldwide team on the global launch for one of our telecom clients. Teams from the US, London and Australia will be joining in. I am the Asia Lead for the campaign, but most decisions are made by the London team. I smile as I sit next to Becca, my bestie. She is literally the only light in my life right now. She is my sister. I would not hesitate to die for her, you know. She keeps me sane.

Next to her are Anjoo and Tanuj, our new interns. And the Head of the Asia zone and my boss, Smarajit Kapoor, he's here as well. He is a damn good boss. Like, the best ever. He realizes something is wishy-washy with Rishi, but he has never questioned me about it. Anyways, I digress, again.

Smarajit gives me a smile, and at the same time, our techy guy Mahi informs us that something is wrong with the data bandwidth and we are unable to be on video, but the audio is working fine. Becca and I look at each other and shrug. It's okay. Same difference.

One by one, we hear all other teams connect in.

"Hello guys. Asia team here, led by Ananya from Gurgaon. This is Smarajit." Smarajit speaks.

Some disturbance. Then a sultry voice says "Hey everyone. Alisha here from Australia with my team here." I listen to her voice and I feel happy. For no reason. Maybe I've had too much coffee.

"Hello guys Logan here from the US of A." Announces a booming voice filled with oomph and confidence, and I can only describe it as a smiling voice. I just want to smile as I listen to it. It's like I've known this voice, this Logan, all my life. It is warmth, blankets, bonfires and hot chocolate all rolled into one. Huh..weird.

And then... "Hello everyone. This is Liam from London. Thank you for joining in. So we will quickly go through the ideas and brainstorm a bit and then finalize the plan. Yeah?"

I feel like I am being caressed... silly, I know. But this is how I feel. I don't know why.

I look around, but no one seems to be affected like I've been. So I try, shake my head, put my head in the game. But it's not possible. How can two people you've never met, affect you so much? Just by listening to their voice? I mean... I've never had this sort of a connection before. Not even with Rishi. What the bloody hell..

Liam and Alisha are discussing some things and then Liam says something that jerks me straight out of my daze.

"So I assume that you will have no problem in accommodating the artists in Mumbai and Gurgaon, right?" Liam asks

Everyone here looks at each other. And we have no idea what he's talking about. Smarajit pushes the microphone towards me. I take a deep breath and say, "Umm... I am sorry, what artists? We have no idea what you're talking about or what this plan is? Did anyone share these details with us before?"

Silence.

No one is talking.

I look at Becca with a frown, asking with my eyes if I said something wrong. But she just shrugs like no babe. They messed up.

Silence still reigns.

"um... Liam? Logan? Alisha? Anybody there? What artists are you talking about? When are they supposed to come? Which producer are you working with locally? How many on-road? What are the logistics like? Technical riders? Have you been in touch with anybody in India for them?". Nobody speaks. What the actual fuck!. "Guys there are a lot of questions I have at this point, so it would be great if one of you starts enlightening us asap. Please." Yeah, I am getting pissed right now. There is no way that I am going to let us take the fall back for the neglect of these Westerners!